More Than A Library

Written by Carson & Mikaela - Working in the Middle East

Carson: We arrived in the Middle East excited to start working right away! The worker who picked us up was happy to meet us and took us directly to where we would be staying. We arrived at the library and met a team of twenty people who were there volunteering from a church, and they were very welcoming to us! 

It was a wonderful learning opportunity to see the worker juggle so many responsibilities and relationships, all very gracefully. We are staying on the second floor of the library, and while the other group was here, we were sharing bedrooms with at least four other people. It was a tight space, but so fun to get to know everyone and hang out every night. 

A couple of days later, we said goodbye to the big group and now only the summer interns are here, so six of us in all! We are prepping for the kids’ camps right now, and love seeing how excited the kids are when they come into the library. Working with the other interns has been so fun! Everyone is creative in their own ways and bringing something to the team. The kids who live here are going to have so much fun this summer at all of our camps! 

All the interns went to church together on our first Sunday together, and we were encouraged to see people who have lived here for years so committed to their faith. We got to chat with some of them after the service and enjoyed hearing their stories. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer holds!

Mikaela:  As we walked into the library, the first word I heard was welcome! 

Then as we walked around, we could see families with their kids hanging out, getting books, and feeling at home and in community. 

This reminded me of the story in Matthew 19:13-15 where Jesus welcomes the children to come and be with all of them. Just like this story, all are welcome at the library to be in community with one another. 

When we walked into the Mosaic shop, you could see each of the walls was covered in Mosaic art. One that stood out to me had a flower on it and it got me thinking about how the Lord is gonna grow me while I’m here in the Middle East. Just like when the flower hasn’t bloomed yet, it’s still growing and I know I will be able to learn a lot and grow a ton. Once it blooms, it becomes this beautiful flower!

That reminded me of the story in the Bible where it talks about a tree being planted by the water and how it won’t ever run dry. I want to be able to be like that, growing in faith and having Jesus at the center of my life.